Macron: France fuelled home-grown extremism by abandoning poor areas

Macron: France fuelled home-grown extremism by abandoning poor areas

President Emmanuel Macron says the French state fuelled home-grown extremism by abandoning its poorest areas as he promised tough and “sometimes authoritarian” measures to combat the problem.

The pledge is part of a multibillion-euro plan Mr Macron is laying out focusing on suburban housing projects plagued by crime and unemployment.

Mr Macron was unusually harsh in his criticism of previous governments, saying radicalisation took root because the state abdicated its responsibility in impoverished public housing, with extremist preachers filling the void.

He said his government will present about 15 measures to fight radicalisation and will close “unacceptable structures” that promote radicalism and “try to fracture us”.

Several extremist attackers who have targeted France in recent years were raised in troubled French social housing and radicalised in the country.

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